First of all...a big thanks to Dale...for taking the time to post numerous posts on taking apart and putting slip joints back together, many years ago. That information is still being used and extremely helpful. Also, thanks for the backspacing compression device, I got out of your store, a while back, it's immensely helpful!
So...still working on cheap knives...to try and understand slip joints a little better. This had no bolster...so I figured I'd try my hand at fabricating the bolster. So here goes...another "shell conversion". Thanks also, to all the others who unknowingly helped with the posting of their projects. OC, thanks for getting me to ditch the silver solder...I got some new flux and lower heat soldering is definitely the way to go.
This old Utica had suffered the blight...celluloid off-gassing. For the most part, the cutting edge was relatively unaffected. It's one of the few cases, where I think it left a pretty neat pattern on the blades.
Got it cleaned up, canvas micarta siding and shaving sharp.
Gave it to an old friend... Mark was a new, enlisted, dental assistant, in the Air Force, in 1989, when I was fresh out of dental school. I too had started, as a dental assistant in the Air Force. Mark likes to give me credit for our lunch time jogging and encouragement in the education arena . With Mark's drive, smarts and charisma he would have been successful without our jogs. I had lost track of Mark, from 1992 until about 2002. He found me on the global e-mail system and filled me in. He had gotten out, got his degree and returned, to the Air Force, as an officer in the cyber-security world. Later on,I was honored to be able to pin him a Major. He now is the squadron commander of one of the top, Dept of Defense, cybersecurity units, in Washington, DC. He was just in San Antonio, for a conference, we were able to get together, fire up the smoker and have a couple of beers and get caught up on news. He's become an exceptional leader and brought some amazing success, to his unit. He truly cares about his people and works to get them promoted, even if it means losing them. He's become an exceptional leader and father of 4. He thought the knife was pretty neat. Kinda fun to give knives...to non knife aficionados...they don't pick up on all the flaws
